Homework Torture

Aah.. A picture of such peace and tranquility, right? Khaleeq studiously and diligently doing his homework. I never thought the day would come...

When we first told Parmi (sometime last year) of our intentions to enroll him in Beaconhouse along with Khadra, her immediate response was, "Mampos." Why, "mampos" you might wonder? Well, it's just that previously Khaleeq went to a playgroup where he is in the Nursery class. Their daily activities would include playing, painting, getting to know numbers and alphabets, singing and more playing rather than serious reading or writing or other gruesome academic stuff. Add to the fact that Khaleeq started speaking rather late; around the age of 3 year old - so , we were overjoyed when he finally did! We even thought that he had problems earlier. A stark contrast to Khadra who was already talking in paragraphs by then. We have learnt early on that every child is different and we treat them differently, with different expectations. With Khaleeq, we kinda chilled and let him be...

For age group 5 and 6 in Beaconhouse however, there is such thing as homework as evidenced by what Khadra has gone through in 2008. So, yeah.. Khaleeq is nowhere near ready for that. However, we felt that he needed to be given that higher expectation and it would, Insya Allah, prepare him to smoothly transition into Primary One in 2011. (Medium-term plan, ni..)

Khaleeq is going to be 5 this coming July and now he has started to write his alphabets in that red-blue-blue-red ruled books; where the alphabets MUST reside within the specific boundaries - "Capital S" within the first red line and the second blue line & "small s" within the two blue lines. He could hardly write his alphabets neatly, let alone to ensure they are within the boundaries. So, to help him practice, the teacher copies down the alphabets and words in pencil-colour for him to trace over. He's doing that pretty well, and has actually progressed to a more solid writing as he becomes more confident of his stroke. Lately, Teacher Rita has left the last 3 lines for him to write on his own (as opposed to trace). I am now helping out by guiding him how big or small is the boundary - "Big A within this line, Khaleeq" and "small g inside here, boy" So far, so good.. I am pretty happy with how he's doing. I just have to spend more time with him every night to practice, practice, practice..

That's him in his good mood.. Singing Ben-10 theme song whilst doing his homework. Best kan?? Well, not necessarily.. hihihihihi.. In his not-so-good moods, he would just write one alphabet and starts being silly. Pretends that he's sleepy, act out a scene of his favourite cartoon, wanders off to God-knows where.. It just takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R....

The things us mommies, (OK, not all mommies, me definitely) have to do to get him to finish his homework ;
1. TLC (Tender, Loving Care) , constant encouragement, positive reinforcements and a sprinkle of "Good job, Boy"-s
2. Rewards - PSP, a thumb game, iced water, chocolate, Cartoon Network breaks.
3. Raise of the voice, a little pinch, ketuk-ketuk meja. Threaten to tell his teacher, the security guard or ____ (insert other authority figures)
4. Back to Number 1.

I know that my temper is sooo short when it comes to teaching the kids. I have to constantly remind myself to do more of Number 1 and less of Number 3. It can become a real torture for both him and me, at times. I need to take breaks as well for fear of losing my sanity. So, we start early on in the night and really pace ourselves. Not too much so as not to overwhelm him. Just enough. I think we are slowly getting better at it. He needs the practice, and I need the practice...

-dillz blogging out-